A man unloading packages from his car on Sinatra Drive early last Sunday morning was dumbfounded when a man who seemed to think the car belonged to him hopped in the driver’s seat and drove away, according to a police report.

The man immediately called the police, the report said, who in a bizarre twist of events found the car illegally parked on the corner of First and River Streets while they were en route to the crime scene.

The victim was transported to where the car, a black Kia Optima, was parked and verified that it was indeed his car, that there was no damage, and that nothing was taken from inside. He told police that the car had a push-start ignition, which is why the man who took it was able to do so.

According to the report, the car’s owner said that the man was white, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with sandy brown hair and wearing a brown suede jacket.

A 10-year grudge and two slashed tires

A longtime Garden Street resident told police last weekend that he had witnessed a neighborhood man who disliked him for almost 10 years slashing his tires in the middle of the night last Sunday, according to a police report.

The man said that he noticed his neighbor crouching next to his car with a knife as he approached his home in another car being driven by a friend, according to the report. By the time he turned his car around and went around the block, the man was gone, but upon further inspection, it was discovered that both driver’s side tires had been slashed.

According to the car’s owner, the men had disliked each other for almost a decade and had several disputes in the past. The car’s owner signed a city summons against the neighborhood man, who will appear in court at a later date.

I thought I heard a car alarm …

A man who parked his car on Garden Street last Sunday night and said he recalled hearing a car alarm go off around 3 or 4 a.m. awoke to find the door handle of his Volkswagen broken and almost $3,000 worth of merchandise from inside missing, according to a police report.

The man had placed his Dell laptop computer, valued at around $1,400, in the car the night before around 7 p.m. but when he unlocked the car the next morning, he noticed that it didn’t make the sound it normally makes, the report said. Upon further inspection, he discovered that the door handle was broken off and the door was ajar.

Inside the car, the report said, things were thrown about and several items were missing. They included $30 in cash, the laptop, a $300 GPS system, a $300 pair of Ray-Bans sunglasses, a $350 DVD player, $80 worth of CDs, and a $180 Samsonite bag.

Construction equipment stolen from Monroe Street site

About $2,700 worth of construction equipment was discovered to be missing on Monday morning after it was secured safely at a Monroe Street construction site on Friday afternoon, according to a police report.

Police responded to reports of a burglary on Monday morning after they were contacted by a project manager for a local construction company working on the first-floor renovation of 720 Monroe Street.

The site apparently was locked with padlocks and chains when work concluded on Friday afternoon, but on Monday a foreman discovered that one door was ajar and that another one was unlocked, according to the report. After taking inventory of the on-site equipment, the foreman reported that a plate compactor and demolition saw, each worth about $1,400, were stolen along with a $130 “sawz-all” saw and a $250 wheel barrow.

According to the report, there was surveillance on the site as well as in the surrounding area. At the time the report was filed the construction company was making a copy for police to view.